Simons Center for Systems Biology / Pelli Clarke & Partners

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Text description provided by the architects. The new home for the Simons Center for Systems Biology at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), designed as an addition, seamlessly integrates with the existing three-storey Bloomberg Hall. Configured to eliminate corridors, the building has offices for faculty members, visiting scholars, and administrative staff as well as formal and informal meetings spaces.  The programmatically distinct lower floor contains the campus wide IAS computer center.

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The majority of rooms in the Simons Center surround a double height space. The combined lobby, library and stair hall encourages the kind of interactions crucial to the interdisciplinary mission of the Center. Meeting spaces strategically located around this core draw occupants towards daylight and landscape views. A large terrace overlooks a new courtyard featuring a sculpture by artist Richard Long, and creates a protected, intimate and sunlit outdoor meeting area.

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The Simons Center incorporates many sustainable design features and strategies to reduce the overall environmental impact. These include: the first green roof in Princeton Township providing storm water management without adding new storm water structures or retention ponds; all interior building materials selected for low or no volatile organic compounds; an innovative mechanical system developed to optimize energy use by re-using waste heat from the computing center; occupancy sensors for lighting, temperature, and fresh air levels.

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The Simons Center reinterprets the proportions and details of the original IAS pavilions, and takes advantage of its sloped site to create a courtyard connection to the existing Bloomberg Hall.

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